Computer systems vary in complexity in terms of the number of machines in a computer system, the communication among the machines in the computer system, and the code that executes on each machine. The more complex a computer system, the more likely that errors will be introduced, such as faulty networking, faulty hardware, faulty configurations, or faulty firmware or software.
However, there are times when the introduction of an error does not immediately manifest itself. Days, weeks, or months may go by before an error is detected or even suspected. However, in the meantime, an entity that maintains, owns, or operates a computer system that is suffering from one or more errors may experience negative consequences, depending on the context in which the computer system operates. For example, if the computer system hosts a website, the website might experience fewer visits, fewer interactions (e.g., page views, comments, likes, clicks, scrolls) with each visit, shorter (in terms of time elapsed) interactions with each visit, fewer content items being displayed, fewer purchases, etc. If an error is not suspected, then fewer user activity may be attributed to other potential factors, such as changes in user interests/tastes or increased competition from other websites. Focus on such issues when the main issue is an error in software code or some other problem with the computing system could be very detrimental to the enterprise.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.